Where I’ll be and maybe I’ll see you there.

I’m waiting for the rain and wind to let up and my little one to go down for a nap. Then I can go clean up the many chicken feathers that the raccoon left behind  when he decreased our chicken population from 3 to 2 last night. I’m still getting used to the idea of our chickens being pets/food-producers, and now they’re pets/food-producers/food. Gah!

That’s right! All glamour, all the time.

Let’s just focus on the future, ok?

Tomorrow and Sunday I will be on the Children’s Stage at Seattle Bookfest at 3 for wacky Mad Libs. With prizes! It’s a whole weekend of books and local authors and fun. Say hi if you’re there!

While we’re talking about where I’ll be when… I’ll be at the 2010  SCBWI Winter Conference January 29th-31st in New York City.  I was there last year, and had a great time (here’s the recap). Registration starts on October 28th!

If you have a something that is submission-ready, you might want to seriously consider signing up for the intensives on the 29th. I’m not sure how the illustrator intensive works, but for writers it’s like a group critique led by a mystery editor or agent. It’s not cheap, but if you have the scratch, it’s probably worth it. You won’t find out who you’re with until you pick up your badge at the registration table. Last year I was fortunate to have Michael Stearns and Liz Szabla lead my tables (!). They each gave fantastic, useful, different feedback.  There are many, many publishing success stories that sprung from these intensives (Just ask Jill Alexander or Holly Cupala.)

I eventually scrapped that particular manuscript in June, but I started something new in July and I should be wrapping up my rough draft this week (Wheeee!). Just in time for the revision retreat the first weekend of November and maybe the intensive, too.

Did you nominate books for the Cybils? Nominations are closed now, but there are plenty of recommendations.  First round panelists are super busy narrowing the long lists down to short lists. In the middle grade category, that’s where I come in! I’m a second round judge, and in great company. Look!

Panelists (Round I Judges):

Sherry Early, Semicolon
Melissa Fox, Book Nut
Abby Johnson, Abby the Librarian
Kyle Kimmal, The Boy Reader
Becky Laney, Becky’s Book Reviews
Sarah Mulhern, The Reading Zone
Sandra Stiles, Musings of a Book Addict

Round II Judges:

Kimberly Baker, Wagging Tales
Stacy Dillon, Welcome to my Tweendom
Monica Edinger, Educating Alice
David Elzey, Excelsior File
Kerry Millar Shelf Elf

Any predictions for the short lists? Share ‘em in the comments!

Lots of good news:

Martha Brockenbrough sold a picture book (This news is a couple weeks old, but still awesome.)!

Author/Illustrator Kjersten Anna Hayes got an honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest Writing Competition for Children’s/Young Adult fiction. Congratulations, Kjersten!

And this morning it was announced that Grace Lin’s wonderful Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was chosen for Al Roker’s Today Show Kid’s Book Club! Yay, Grace! You can see my interview with Grace about her process making Where the Mountain meets the Moon here.

I’ll have more interviews featuring fab middle grade authors soon, when things slow down a little bit.

And in the random news category: Ground Control to Major Tom You? Scientists are looking for a few good people to spend 520 days on a simulated trip to Mars.  You get a real trip to Moscow, and after a few days you won’t know if you’re on a real space ship or not.

Ok, it’s time for me to go outside, but first I’m going to watch one of my favorite videos ever. Happy weekend, everybody!

Cybils! And other stuff.

It’s time to nominate your favorite books for the Cybils!

Then, go pick up a copy of Laini Taylor and Jim DiBartolo’s Lips Touch Three Times, available today. Why should you pick it up? Because I read the ARC, and it’s wonderful.  Because their editor, Arthur Levine, spontaneously cheered when reading an excerpt at the YA Buzz panel at BEA. Because Laini and Jim are made out of awesome. I’ll post a little interview with Laini in the next few days.

Yay! SCBWI’s own Aaron Hartzler has sold his YA memoir, Rapture Practice, to Little Brown to be published in 2011 (via PW Children’s Bookshelf).

If you’re in Seattle, mark your calendar for October 24-25 for the newly resurrected Bookfest. I’ll be on the Secret Garden KidsStage hosting some crazy MadLibs on Saturday and Sunday, because Penguin is celebrating 50 years of filling in the blanks with silliness. So, stop by- but leave the rotten tomatoes at home. I hear Martha Brockenbrough is hosting a Grammar Bee as well. Fun stuff!

I have a little bet going with that very same Martha B. to finish my rough draft by the end of the month, so I’ll be going now.

Kathryn Fitzmaurice interview and book giveaway!

I’m so excited to present the first in a new series of  author interviews. Kathryn Fitzmaurice agreed to answer a few questions, AND she’s graciously offered a signed copy of The Year the Swallows Came Early! Just leave a comment below by September 14 and I’ll pick someone at random to win!

WT: Tell us about your novel, The Year the Swallows Came Early.

KF: The book is about an eleven year old girl named Eleanor “Groovy” Robinson who dreams of attending cooking school one day.  Only she discovers that someone close to her has taken away something very important that may keep her from ever going.  She has to decide if she can forgive the failings of someone she loves, and accept him for who he is, rather than who she wants him to be.  But it’s also about how she keeps working to achieve her dreams despite the obstacles that are put in her way.

WT: How did you get the idea, and how long was it between your first spark and publication?

KF: It took almost exactly three years from when I wrote my first sentence to receiving the offer from HarperCollins.  Then it took another 16 months after the offer for the book to be on bookshelves.

The idea for the book had been stirring since the summer I turned 13, when my mother sent me to New York City to visit my grandmother, who was a science fiction author.  My grandmother led a very eclectic lifestyle.  I remember we never did anything until late afternoon, and then we stayed up until 2 or 3am.  Sometimes, we went to dinner as late as 11pm.  When we returned, she’d sit down to write until very early in the morning.  She told me she did this because the middle of the night was when people said and did things they normally wouldn’t.  She had a collection of porcelain owls, because they were creatures of the night.  She studied paranormal events.  She discussed things like inner motivations and secret desires.  She helped me to write my very first story that summer, and stayed up all night typing it so I could have a real story like she had.  At thirteen, it was my first real writing lesson.

She worked very hard that summer revising a novel entitled Chrysalis of Death.  And one day, we met her literary agent for lunch, and after listening to them discuss how my grandmother could make her characters into whomever she wanted, I decided that someday, I’d like to be a writer, too.  So after I told her this, my grandmother proceeded to send me books about writing techniques, books by classic authors, and literary essays for every birthday and Christmas holiday after.   In most of these books, she would write inside the cover, “K: Write what you know. “  One of my favorite books she sent to me when I was deep into a teenage poetry writing stage was a volume of poetry by Emily Dickinson.  Inside this book she wrote: “Emily Dickinson is a revered poet. Perhaps the same can be said of K.H. someday. Love, Grandma Eleanor. “

When she passed away, she left me a big box with all of her unfinished manuscripts in it, which have been a tremendous inspiration to me.

So because of all of the encouragement she gave me and to honor her, I decided that when I sat down to write my own novel many years later, that I would name my main character after her and give her a grandmother very much like my own.  In fact, because I remember her revising Chrysalis of Death the summer I visited, I decided to include it in The Year the Swallows Came Early.  So on page 148, my main character and her best friend find this manuscript along with a few of her others stories.  I included her book inside my book.

She never got to read even the first draft of my novel.  But I did send it to her agent, Phyllis Westberg, four years ago, who is still alive and working in NYC.  After reading it, my Ms. Westberg made the comment that she thought my grandmother would have been very happy.

WT: How different was your final draft from your first draft? Were the themes consistent? Any surprises?

KF: As far as themes go, the final draft was very similar to the first draft.  But the format, the chapter orders, the way things were laid out; those all changed quite a bit over the course of three years.  There was one good surprise. I had changed the title of the book probably twenty times while I was writing it, but Brenda Bowen, who was the editor who bought it, asked if we could change the title to The Year the Swallows Came Early, which was the exact working title I had used while writing it.  So even though I had used many different tiles over three years, (mostly because I couldn’t decide on what I wanted) we went back to my first one.  I suppose some things are meant to be.

WT: I noticed you were at the SCBWI Summer Conference. What was the highlight for you?

KF: It was either Richard Peck’s speech, or Sherman Alexie’s speech.  Both made me tear up and want to be a better writer.  And actually, while I was listening to Richard Peck, I was so inspired by him that the idea for my newest title came to me about half way through his talk.

WT: I read that you’re working on a companion book for The Year the Swallows Came Early. Anything you can tell us about it?

KF: Yes, thank you for asking.  The companion book is about one of the other characters in Swallows, named Frankie.  It’s written from his point of view, which took some getting used to.  I had to separate from Eleanor, which was where I’d been for three years, and get into Frankie’s head.  I think it took me a good six months before I was able to think about him without thinking of how Eleanor saw the world.

WT: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

KF: I enjoy walking my dog, Holly, and I spend a lot of time on the pool deck watching my two boys play water polo, or at swim meets.  I also like to think up first lines as I see things happen around me.  And, I’m kind of a neat freak.  I like to clean out things.  Give me an unorganized pantry or garage, and a trash can, and I’m happy.

WT: How has your teaching experience impacted your writing?

KF: Every day we had twenty minutes of uninterrupted silent reading right after lunch.  I think back a lot to the books my students chose to read over and over.  They are the same books I love today.  Honestly, I hope someday I can write one of those books that kids wait in line to check out from the school library, or use their lunch money to buy at book fairs.  That is a well written book.

WT: How do you stay in touch with the writing community (e.g. critique group, SCBWI,  social media, etc.)?

KF: I attend many writing conferences each year and am part of a terrific critique group which meets once or twice a month.  I also twitter and facebook, like many other writers do.  I am also a part of two fantastic author’s networks. The Class of 2k9, and AuthorsNow.

WT: What have you enjoyed reading recently?

KF: I just finished two great books: Kate DiCamillo’s new one, The Magician’s Elephant, and The Help, by Kathryn Stockett,   I also just re-read Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana.

WT: Any writing/revision tips you’d like to share?

KF: I am no expert; I have a lot to learn myself.  But I suppose I would encourage writers to join a critique group because it’s a very good way to get honest feedback that helps you see what you’re missing.  Sometimes I learn more about my writing by critiquing their writing because I can be objective with someone else’s work, and so it helps me to be more open to receive criticism from others.  Like everyone else, I enjoy hearing positive comments about my work, but it’s the criticism that helps me grow while I’m writing my first drafts.  I can open my book to most any page and see a line that one of my critique group members wrote or revised.  I can see whole paragraphs and chapters that were inspired by a question one of them asked.  I’m so thankful they cared enough to push me.

Thanks, Kathryn! Pick up a copy of The Year the Swallows Came Early at your local bookseller, and find more of Kathryn on her blog or website.

Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win a free, signed copy!

Thanks for reading!

Home.

I just got home from the conference.

Sure, I could have been back on a plane weeks ago. That would have been the easy way to do it, but I took the road less traveled. Directly after the conference I met my family for 2 days at Disneyland, a day visiting family in East L.A., 2 days in Sedona, a day in New Mexico, and a few days in Colorado visiting a large portion of my immediate family.

Then we drove home to Seattle.

We logged over 3000 miles.

Did I mention that in addition to my sweet husband and me we also had our 2 year old, our 6 year old, and 2 dogs?

Our backseat looked like this, but with one more dog and a humongous pile of luggage/books/toys. And a big box of green chile. And noise.

The picture doesn’t capture the noise:

Two words. Violet Beauregarde. Blueberry infused vodka with lemonade and muddled mint. Blissfully refreshing.

The trip was great. I’ve lived in various areas of the mountains and desert most of my life. I love Seattle, but I appreciate the contrast. It was good to get back.

Here’s a little something from the trip: There are no books at Disneyland.  After I noticed that the first gift shop was free of reading material, it became a quest.  Not even a sparkly, electronic board book to be found anywhere. Really, Disney?

So- the conference….Awesome, awesome, awesome.  Thank you to the readers who came to say hi! It’s so nice to know who reads my silly ramblings. My guilt is appeased at not posting knowing you had the official SCBWI Team blog available. I didn’t take any pictures, but I had lots of fun and met many fine folks.

Highlights-

Watching Jolie and Sara co-win the member of the year award. Yay! Their accounts can be found here and here.

Inspirational keynotes. Sherman Alexie and Richard Peck each made me misty.

And the best thing about the conference for me was…

Linda Sue Park’s master class on revision! So much great information. Thanks, Linda Sue! And, uh, I’m not the only one who had an eventful car ride after the conference.

I’m off to write, but here are a few things to check out-

Kirby Larson’s first installment of a very impressive blog panel discussing gender and books.

Cheryl Klein offers an editor’s opinion on speedy manuscript auctions, and Michael Bourret responds with an agent’s view. What do you think?

The Cybils are coming! Nominations start in October, but they’re currently looking for judges and panelists.

Mitali Perkins offers easy steps for getting started on Twitter.

And Jody Feldman is offering a fun contest to celebrate the paperback release of The Gollywhopper Games.

California dreaming…

I’m in L.A. for the SCBWI summer conference!  I’ve spent the day napping a nasty bugger of a headache away, but it’s mostly gone now and there is fun to be had.

I’ll try blogging while I’m here, but I learned last year that things are pretty busy. I might not get much blogging done.  I’ll definitely post a few tweets, and you can follow everybody’s conference tweets here.

That’s not enough for you, though, is it?  Of course not. So here’s the official SCBWI team blog. I have no doubt that Alice, Jolie, Jaime, Lee, Paula, and Suzanne will bring you the goods. They already are. Look at those zombie interviews!

If you’re here at the conference, say hi!

This and that

Carrie wins! Congrats, Carrie!  Send me your address and I’ll get those lovely cards out to you Monday.

Here’s a  short video of Maurice Sendak on Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are,  shown at ComicCon.

I finally read The Hunger Games this week.  Am I the last one in the world to read it? It feels like it.  I’m not generally crazy about futuristic, dystopian settings, so I kept resisting the recommendations.  Silly me. I couldn’t put it down.  She lost me a little bit with the mutts, but otherwise I was totally engaged in the story.

My writing weekend went very well.  My goals were a little lofty, so I didn’t actually finish the draft, but I’m much farther along and the rest is pretty much planned out. What a fantastic gift to have such a big block of time just to focus.  It was wonderful. My goal this week is 10,000 rewritten words, and I think I’m getting pretty close.

Publisher’s Weekly has their Fall Children’s Books on stands now.

That clever Martha Brockenbrough made a new blog for SCBWI Western Washington, The Chinook Update.

Sometimes I like to write with a different font in my working draft, just to mix things up and tweak my perspective a little bit.  I’ve been playing with the free fonts at Font Squirrel lately.

If you’re marketing some kid kit this year you should probably pick up the 2010 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market guide. Even if you don’t need it for marketing, look at the list of fabulous features and articles.

Do you use iGoogle?  They have a new group of comics themes, like American Born Chinese and Robot Dreams.  Also, Ziggy.  You know, if you’re into that.

Justine Larbalestier addresses the controversial cover choice for her new novel that has everyone upset. Grrr. Whiskey tango foxtrot, Bloomsbury?!?

The Horn Book gets the blue ribbon for speedy printing. I received my copy in the mail on July 20th, complete with acceptance speech transcripts from ALA on July 12. Well done!

I’m going to bed now, so I can kayak tomorrow with both eyes open.

After the conference…

Are there any rules about blogging in a thunderstorm?  I kind of like it.

Holy noodles, that conference wore me out.  I haven’t blogged for two weeks because I was wading through conference prep.  I’ve barely written a thing.  It’s taken two days to get my brain back.  My feet are still sore, but I’m kind of excited about all the newfound free time.

I swiped this picture from Laini's blog.

I have something to show you from the conference, but someone who had to miss it has to see it first- so you have to wait.  I’ll post it around the end of the week, after I’ve heard this person has seen it.  Is that vague enough?

Let’s see… I think people who saw/met me at the conference who don’t know me might think I’m a little crazy.  I was sooo busy, and I didn’t have time to eat much, and I was drinking A LOT of coffee to keep myself going.  I might have looked a little wild eyed and been a little wound up.  Ok, I know I did.  Try me again on a regular day and I promise to be more serene.

It started with the kid lit drink night, which was a blast.  So much fun, in fact, that I stayed much later than I should have for a girl that had to wake up at 4 am the next day.  Ouch.

I loved meeting so many new people, and seeing friends.  I only caught bits and pieces of the breakout sessions, but the ones I saw were all aces. I did see most of the keynotes by Adam Rex, Grace Lin, Ellen Hopkins, and Jon Scieszka, and they were each unique and inspirational.

We raffled off a free registration for next year’s conference (won by Nuria Coe) to benefit Bridget Zinn, who couldn’t make it this year.  We kept it kind of secret, because I wasn’t sure how it would go- but our lovely attendees raised $1560!  Thank you, lovely attendees! The online auction is growing as well.  Jone added my bag a couple of weeks ago.  There are tons of other items available to bid on like a basket of middle grade books or a FULL manuscript consultation from the blunt (but still charming) Jody Feldman. Go bid on a fabulous prize, and support a writer to boot.

Ok, I have some revisions to get back to- so this is what you get.

Want to read more about the conference from people who could sit down and take it all in? Try here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here.

By the way, a great big congratulations to our portfolio show winner, Jennifer Mann! A big shout out to the first and second runners up, too Lisa Mundorff and John Deininger.

See you in a couple of days!

“Thanks.”

Do you know how I like to blog?  I like to share things.  I like to pass things on that I find interesting, that you too might enjoy.  In order to do that, I need time to peruse the internet.  I haven’t had so much of that lately, and all signs point to the next six weeks being even busier.  I’ll try to blog when I can, but I’m warning you now that it will probably be sporadic.

You know where I would really enjoy blogging?  Marrakech. I would blog the heck out of Marrakech.  Especially if I had a lovely office like this.  I covet.

A “friend” sent me this “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks and it gave me the “giggles.”

Contests!

Lee & Low is holding a contest for unpublished writers of color with a picture book manuscript. Details here.

Delacorte is holding their annual contests for a first middle-grade or YA novel. Details here.

Fairy Godsisters Ink are a few collaborating writers full of goodwill offering a scholarship to someone interested in going to the SCBWI International Summer Conference in L.A.  The deadline is next week, so giddy up!

I have to tend to our newest pets now.  When I get really busy, I tend to pile even more on.  I seek out more responsibility.  It’s what I do.  I’m neurotic.  So, in typical maladjusted fashion, I became intrigued with urban homesteading. I’ve added to our population.  Do you know that it is chick season?  I did not.  Right now there is a makeshift brooder on the other side of the room.  Three downy little occupants are peeping away.  I suspect they found the bottom of the box under the shavings again, and that is the MOST EXCITING THING EVER.  They do, in fact, have bird brains.  As do I, apparently.

I’ll post a picture soon and then you will see how I was unable to resist. Stop judging!

The New York groove

New York is a fantastic place.  I had a great time.  Alice Pope blogged like a calm, stylish maniac all weekend, so you can read all about the conference here.  Here are just a few of the standouts from each day (for me).

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday:

Laurie Thompson and Joni Sensel

• People rave about Fran’s salted caramels.  The president himself finds them to be his most favorite of all candies.  I don’t usually like caramel, but these are really, really, really, really, good.  I pick up a few to give away to helpful friends in New York.
• Our flight from Seattle to New York was cancelled due to an east coast ice storm.
• Another flight was available! Icy runways be damned!

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday:

• We had to cancel a couple of morning appointments with upcoming conference faculty,  due to the delay.  Bummer.
• The Grand Hyatt lets us check in very early.  Hooray!  We freshened up and went out into the-
• SLEET.  There is a slushie machine in the sky, and it is malfunctioning. Icy puddles! Sopping clothes! Polished, professional appearance-kaputz.  
• Secret meeting at Scholastic for top secret project (From now on referred to as TSP and having nothing to do with any of my books ever being published.  So don’t ask, because it will be awkward.).
• Rice pudding at the Jaime Temairik recommended Rice to Riches in Soho.  I recommend the mascarpone with cherries.
• Evolution!
• Tea with a mystery editor, who will be visiting us in Seattle later this year.

 

Thursday:  

Laurie & me

• Blue skies!  Dry streets!  New York is a town capable of plowing and salting unlike say, err, Seattle.
• Meeting at the New York Public Library for TSP with Betsy Bird.
• More meetings with upcoming faculty for the conference in May, and down the road.
• Inside Random House we happened across pictures of Kirby Larson and Sundee Frazier and squealed.
• FAO Schwartz!  I love toy stores.  The Enchanted Forest in Soho was my favorite, but FAO is no slouch.
• Dinner with SCBWI friends.
• Bed, sweet bed.

 

 

Friday:  

Joni & me with the lovely security guards at Harper

 

• Great Scot!  I signed up for the writer’s intensives, didn’t I?  My critique group can tell you, I’m not so crazy about sharing my work. And with editors, agents, and strangers no less?!?  Egads.
• Uh oh, remember that upcoming faculty member we stood up on Wednesday?  He’s leading my first intensive.  Hope he’s not still annoyed…
• Wait a minute, that went well!  Great feedback, positive reception, spot-on ideas for revisions.  Super!
• Another great intensive full of praise and constructive feedback.  Yay!
• Cocktail party!  This was A LOT of fun.  I got to catch up with far away friends, meet awesome people, and be merry.  There was a lot of TSP action, too.  It went by really fast, but then Betsy Bird and Cheryl Klein had the foresight to schedule an after party right across the street.  More fun!
• Late night diner food.  Yum.

 

Saturday:

Diner food!

• The conference starts! Lots of editors talk about what they’re looking for.
• Jay Asher gives a fabulous keynote address.  Funny and inspirational.
• More editors talk (See Alice’s blog.)
• TSP with mystery art director.
• Dinner with Washington peeps.

 

 

Sunday:  

Holly's agent telling 1000 people how awesome Holly is.

• Lots of talented artists win awards.  Alice has the scoop on this, too.
• Bruce Hale gives a great keynote.  And he sings!  How many keynotes have you been to with a singing keynoter?
• An insightful agent panel.  Edward Necarsulmer gives an example of coming across an exciting new author at last year’s conference- and it’s our very own Holly Cupala!   
• Back to Seattle just in time to have dinner with my son, the birthday boy.  

 

 

And that’s the whole enchilada.

What did we learn?  

• Flavored rice pudding is delicious.
• Editors are heavily guarded.  We went to a few differerent publishing houses, and there was A LOT of ID checking by big security guards at various checkpoints.  
• There are people out there who are unclear about the difference between advisors and agents, and will try to pitch you in the elevator.  My sympathies, agents.
• New York is awesome!

 

And, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who helped with the TSP.  

All will be revealed…..much later.

Just a quick note…

I’m leaving tomorrow, and I am really, REALLY excited.  The next few days are going to be a whirlwind of awesomeness.  Today has been one of those days with whining, phlegm, laundry piles, cat vomit, getting locked out of the house- that kind of stuff.  It’s all fine and dandy because I am going to New York tomorrow and the stress of the last couple of days just makes the trip that much lovelier.  

I’ll try and blog a little bit from New York.  

Later, alligator!